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Apr 4, 2018, 08:00am

CEO Resume Tips: A Powerful Strategy For Drawing In Readers On The First Page

When key decision makers look at a CEO’s executive resume for the first time, it's called the first look or the cursory glance look.

Your primary goal with the cursory glance look is to establish scale, scope and alignment in your executive resume. In other words, it's your relative level of degree, reference points, and ranges of perspective or activity in order to give your reader a quick summary of both your goals and what you are qualified for. This works to create the initial perception your reader will have of you.

If you don't create your resume with this intention, you will develop a CEO-focused document that is, in my experience, too vague in keywords and too dense in text. It inadvertently encourages your reader to gloss or glance over your document quickly, losing or missing the desired effect.

To avoid this, and create a CEO resume that has the desired effect at the cursory glance, do the following:

Keywords And Summary Statements

Again, the most important thing to remember is that the keywords at the top of your executive resume create the reader’s initial perception of you by defining alignment and scale. You need to help the reader understand and appreciate your capabilities and career focus during a cursory glance.

For example, you could say:

CEO – Business Development Expert

But what do these keywords really tell someone who does not know you? What kind of CEO? For what size companies? What kind of business development? What size business development project? What industry?

Because I have more questions than answers, these keywords miss the mark of creating an instant baseline perspective for me. Furthermore, it creates frustration for me because I am investing time looking at something that is not doing a good job communicating the basic information needed to make a reasonable decision or determination.

It's much more effective to say:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), General Manager

$1B+ Global Tech Companies

Disruptive Technologies/Automation

Key points after that may include elements such as:

P&L to $5B, Global Teams to 3,000

MBA

High Visibility Leadership – seen and heard in Tech Exec, Forbes and Chief Executive magazines, and TED Talk Presenter on The Future of Automation

The second bunch of keywords supports your alignment and scale, and they "make your argument." We now know how big, how much, when, where and for how long. All delivered in just a couple of seconds.

At the cursory glance of your CEO executive resume, it should be crystal clear to the reader where you want to go and the size and scope of your abilities.

Color, Fonts, Bolded Words And Point Size

In addition, you can help draw the eye to certain points by bolding words and creating a slightly larger word size. Your name can be in a 20pt. to 32pt. font, and the keywords beneath your name can range from 12pt. to 16pt. size for prime effect.

Font styles can be aligned with your industry, as can color. Traditional industries such as banking and finance may use a font such as Times New Roman, whereas industries such as technology and healthcare can opt for a more modern font such as Calibri or Century Gothic. Clean fonts that are easy to read are always best.

Color follows similar rules. If you opt to introduce color into your resume, conduct an internet search by images of your industry, niche, or your title (especially if it’s unique, like chief medical officer, chief digital officer, chief compliance officer, or operating partner, to name a few). Look for running color patterns and recurring themes. Often, you will see a gradient blue/gray, blue/blue, or blue/orange theme. It's a great idea to integrate these color patterns into your resume, as they create a subtle connection between you and your title or industry niche that is relatable and familiar to your audience.